Simplicity

Oh, to live the simple life! Simplicity is the second principle from Simple Abundance written by Sarah Ban Breathnach. We find that we actually can survive without some of the things that we thought we couldn’t live without.

When some missing piece of our daily lives is not available, we pull out our dormant skills that have been laying around waiting for our attention. Sometimes we have things that we know how to do, but we have become so advanced in the tech age, that we do not use them. Those skills are like an ignored child, vying for a mother’s attention.

The other day, I did not have access to my television. For a moment, I was like, “Oh! What will I do?” Then, I turned on the radio and found a comforting station and started using my hands and got busy doing the tasks that I needed to do. Let’s face it, when we are looking at television, we sitting down. And in retrospect, I needed to be up in motion.

I recently wrote a blog post on our tech dependence and about all of the “toys” we believe that we must have. But, if they are not available, there is a deep instinct within us which helps us to improvise and come up with other methods of getting things done.

If we could not pay a bill online, do we still have postage stamps in our possession? Do we have checks in our checkbooks? Do we have envelopes? These may sound like silly questions, but in 2014, they are pertinent questions that make us ponder a few things.

I have a dear author-Twitter friend who lives overseas and she responded to my post on technological dependence. Val wrote,” …living without Wi-Fi is very difficult as I have discovered. For me, this and a mobile phone are the only non-negotiables.” She went on to say that she has no landline and that her mobile phone does not have to be all that clever.

I agree with Val when she says she needs her Wi-Fi because in 2014, it is the way of the world. However, we can scale back on some of our other gadgets if our ‘backs are against the wall.’ The old saying goes, “If you want to travel far, you have to travel light.”

In unfortunate disasters, crises and in necessitated moves, people find out that they can live with less, and still find happiness and contentment. Sometimes less is more because we may be challenged to use some of our gifts that we have not used for a while. The other day, I had to use a tape measure and cut out some items for a window fixture and I instantly thought of my mother.

She taught us how to sew and cutting and measuring cloth while using a pattern are a part of the process. If I had big money, I would have called someone in to do it rather than using my own ingenuity. It is said, “If you don’t use it, you will lose it.” So we have to be savvy and brush off those skills and keep them honed.

As we move towards the end of the year and into the holiday season, simplicity is the key. We should ask ourselves, do I really need this or that? An effort to be more frugal could mean that we bring in 2015 with more cash on hand and we all know that this adds to our senses of security. Plato advises us when he said,” The greatest wealth is to live content with little.”